Engineering Research Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources - CISTAR

由于采用了从页岩层中开采天然气的技术，美国已探明的天然气储量在过去15年里几乎翻了一番。这些储量中有相当大一部分位于偏远地区。目前，基础设施和经济条件不利于运输这种滞留的轻烃(LHC)烷烃组分(甲烷、乙烷、丙烷和丁烷)。天然气被输送到集中工厂，在那里它们可以被加工成有价值的液体燃料和化学中间体。美国国家科学基金会烷烃资源创新和战略转型工程研究中心(CISTAR)致力于在催化、分离和工艺设计领域提供基本的研究知识，这些领域需要开发小型、模块化、本地和高度网络化的加工厂，将低碳氢化合物从偏远的页岩资源转化为液体化学品和运输燃料，从而经济地利用原本未得到充分利用的资源。为此，CHISTAR？S的总体目标是提供技术创新和多样化的训练有素的劳动力，以实现页岩气作为低碳足迹？桥梁燃料？的潜力。未来的可持续能源经济。CISTAR由普渡大学领导，合作伙伴包括西北大学、圣母大学、新墨西哥大学和德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校。该研究所将利用催化和膜材料领域的科学和工程发现，通过将新的催化烷烃脱氢和烯烃齐聚步骤与新的分离相结合，开发创新的工艺设计，以经济地生产液体化学品和运输燃料。整个流程将使用原料(乙烷和C2+)，并在目前的商业催化剂无法实现的转化率和温度下运行，以消除通常与烯烃分离和提纯相关的巨额资本和能源成本。该研究所还将探索甲烷氧化偶联为乙烯的新机会，然后将其用作转化为液体燃料的原料。基础知识将使用从实验室规模到全尺寸中试工厂的试验台转移到化学品和燃料的工艺中，并使用系统级生命周期和环境影响分析进行经济评估。综合工厂设计将得到全面优化，以满足地方、州和联邦政策以及安全和环境标准。创新生态系统将汇聚关键的行业合作伙伴和非行业利益相关者，如政府机构、监管机构、非政府组织和消费者，将S中心的研究成果商业化，并最大限度地为社会带来好处。强有力的研究和教育整合将对启动下一代碳氢化合物劳动力以及石化和能源行业领先者至关重要。CISTAR在大学和大学预科教育中提供了成熟的领域塑造能力，以解决关键的劳动力空白，并培养具有技术和专业技能的多样化学生，以在分离、反应工程、系统工程和催化领域领导和创新。外联计划将旨在培养公众对安全和对环境负责的方式的意识，将美国的碳氢化合物资源用作通往可再生能源未来的桥梁。

The United States proven reserves of natural gas have nearly doubled in the past 15 years as a result of technologies to extract gas from shale formations. A sizeable fraction of these reserves are located in remote areas. Currently, the infrastructure and economics are not favorable for transporting the Light Hydrocarbon (LHC) alkane constituents (methane, ethane, propane, and butanes) of this ?stranded? gas to centralized plants where they can be processed to valuable liquid fuels and chemical intermediates. The NSF Engineering Research Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR) aims to provide basic research understanding in the areas of catalysis, separations, and process design needed to develop small, modular, local, and highly-networked processing plants that will convert LHCs from remote shale resources to liquid chemicals and transportation fuels, thereby economically utilizing resources that would otherwise be underutilized. To this end, CISTAR?s overarching goal is to provide the technological innovation and a diverse highly-trained workforce to realize the potential of shale gas as a lower-carbon-footprint ?bridge fuel? to a future sustainable energy economy. CISTAR is led by Purdue University, with partners at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Texas-Austin. CISTAR will take advantage of scientific and engineering discoveries in the areas of catalytic and membrane materials to enable the development of innovative process designs for economical production of liquid chemicals and transportation fuels by combining new catalytic alkane dehydrogenation and olefin oligomerization steps with novel separations. The overall process will operate with feedstocks (ethane and C2+), and at conversions and temperatures not possible with current commercial catalysts, to eliminate large capital and energy costs normally associated with olefin separation and purification. CISTAR will also explore new opportunities for the oxidative coupling of methane to ethylene, which can then be used as a feedstock for conversion to liquid fuels. Fundamental knowledge will be transferred to processes for chemicals and fuels using testbeds ranging from lab-scale up to a full-size pilot plant with economic evaluations using systems-level lifecycle and environmental impact analysis. An integrated plant design will be comprehensively optimized to meet local, state, and federal policies, as well as safety and environmental standards. The CISTAR Innovation Ecosystem will bring together the key industrial partners and non-industrial stakeholders such as government agencies, regulators, NGOs, and consumers to commercialize the Center?s research discoveries and to maximize benefits to society. Strong research and education integration will be vital for launching the next-generation hydrocarbon workforce and petrochemical and energy industry leaders. CISTAR brings proven, field-shaping capabilities in university and precollege education to address a critical workforce void and develop diverse students with technical and professional skills to lead and innovate in the separations, reaction engineering, systems engineering, and catalysis communities. Outreach programs will be aimed at fostering public awareness of safe and environmentally responsible ways to use U.S. hydrocarbon resources as a bridge to a renewable energy future.